MINUTES FROM THE REGULAR PORT COMMISSION MEETING FOR THE PORT OF HOODSPORT
December 14, 2022
Call to Order: 9:02am Adjourned: 10:25am
Hybrid Meeting Held at: 24113 North Highway 101, Suite A Hoodsport, WA 98548 / Virtual Zoom Conference Meeting Room ID#406-238-9936
Roll Call: Commissioner Kincannon – Chairwoman / 2nd Trustee, Commissioner Brazil – 2nd Chairman / Trustee
Commissioner Morris
Staff Present: K. Wyatt, Executive Director, S. Lindgren – Maintenance Supervisor
Public: Forest McCullough – NW Land & Tree, Katherine Yackel – YSS Dive Shop, Jan Morris – Fjordin Crossin – Hardware Distillery, Cheryl Kroneman – Kiwanis
Approval of Agenda: Commissioner Brazil motioned to approve the agenda dated December 14, 2022 at 9:02am, as written; Commissioner Morris seconded; all in favor, unanimously approved.
Minutes: Commissioner Kincannon motioned to approve the regular port commission minutes for November 9, 2022, Commissioner Brazil seconded, all in favor, unanimously approved.
Vouchers: Commissioner Kincannon motioned to approve the Vouchers for November 2022, in the amount of $9,358.40, Commissioner Morris seconded, all in favor, unanimously approved.
Public Communication:
Commissioner Kincannon asked if Annie from the Timberland Library or Kirk with the Shelton Mason Journal had any comments. Annie said she was here to listen and will address the libraries storybook trail when it is springtime. K Yackel asked if the Port had a way to receive donations and fund-raising money to repair the port’s dock. Commissioner Morris said we are working with the port’s attorney on how best to handle and set up the bookkeeping to receive outside donations for the dock restoration, there are others who would like to help fund the dock also. After walking the dock prior to your last event, I could see it was in rough shape, there will be a short-term plan for general wear and tear, then ultimately a grandiose plan to mitigate what happens annually with the winter weather and wave action, we may need a breakwater system. I’m talking to hydrologists and engineers about the dock in relation to which direction it faces, the engineering and buildout to change it up will require getting you folks with mutual interests involved. K Yackel said when you set up a way to receive outside donations, we can do a ‘Dive around the clock’ fundraiser to help with dock repairs. Commissioner Brazil said he met with Reid Middleton at the WPPA conference, who is an engineer, and his firm does every aspect of getting a project done including the evaluation, bid, grant writing and repair. We can set up a time/date with them to do an analysis. We can consider phases 1, 2 and 3 for a repair, design and new dock. Commissioner Kincannon said she also met with Anderson, we can talk to them about bids on short term and long-term repairs. K Yackel said it is exciting to hear you are working on ideas, the dock is the key to commerce. J Morris said I can get easy business involvement in fundraising, it is also good for commerce, we get a lot of boaters in and people who would like to help. Commissioner Kincannon said, Jan you are also a grant writer, we can all work together. Commissioner Brazil remined everyone that Reid Middleton’s firm does the entire project from start to finish. K Yackel said she will send in Event forms for two events in 2023, May 6th and September 23rd. C Cronneman with the Kiwanis said she is stepping into a new role, looking at all new options for a 5-year plan toward helping the community. Commissioner Brazil said the Kiwanis is reenergized with C Cronneman stepping into the position, we had a pancake breakfast and it was really nice. I would like to meet with J Morris to build the Kiwanis up, work with the Port and business community, we could turn it international to help with grant money. I have a brochure for the Kiwanis organization recruitment, we used to have about 40 people, but they are almost all gone for one reason or another. Commissioner Kincannon said there are so many new business owners in our community, they may want to join the Kiwanis. C Cronneman said, I would like to encourage everyone to visit the Kiwanis International website page, we can help with parks, gazebos and the Kiwanis has liability insurance on all its volunteers. Commissioner Brazil said we will need volunteers to help with the Hoodsport trail park in the spring and summer. C Cronneman said does the Port of Hoodsport own the Gazebo at Lake Cushman? S Lindgren said the Port owns the gazebo in the upper West parking lot at the Hoodsport Trail Park. Cheryl said we are trying to get the gazebo fixed on Lake Cushman property by the clubhouse. Commissioner Kincannon thanked Cheryl and said K Yackel is very techy, its nice we have a group of people with different types of skills and fortes, it will be great to have everyone working together. J Morris said the Fjordin Crossin event will be on June 17, 2023, we received grant money this year for the Fjordin Crossin event through the Washington Arts Committee, it was very difficult, but it was a trickle-down idea and falls under reigniting artisans in festivals after COVID. We will be having an after-hours event to promote the artisan festival. We are organizing Christmas Caroling this Saturday night at 5:30 with caroling and activities for children. We will start at YSS Dive shop in hopes that Carlos will participate. There will be two boats rides which accommodates six people for each ride, every business is participating, the church has joined, the Wellness clinic has joined. The Kiwanis will be serving hot chocolate, small crafts for the kids and Santa Claus. Can the Port post a flyer to their website? Commissioner Kincannon said yes, and we are happy to put a poster on the office window. Commissioner Kincannon welcomed F McCullough to the meeting via telephone. F McCullough said as far as the update, we got a lot of snow! We are done with the East side of the Hoodsport Trail Park, we have a little more work to do on the parking lot, there are loads of pulp coming out today. Commissioner Kincannon asked if they are still anticipating being totally done by April. F McCullough said Yes, the disc golf is all cleaned up, we will do a walk through assessment to see if the heavy snow knocked any trees down. We are due to get another 16” of snow next week.
Commissioner Kincannon said she attended the Washington Public Ports Association (WPPA) semiannual meeting. I met engineers, grant writers and great contacts. I am working on the cigarette collector and understand from S Lindgren we need something solid that won’t walk away, I will talk to the Port of Tacoma and get back to you. Commissioner Morris asked if we had a blank co-op purchasing agreement to piggyback with other Ports. Commissioner Kincannon said I will get the form so we can all sign it and be ready. Small purchases are not worth it such as single printers and small dollar items. Commissioner Brazil said he spoke to Bill Grondin, the disc golf course warden, he is concerned about having to re design the disc golf course after winter. We also talked about the disc golf baskets on the North side of the trail park and should collect the extra baskets and store them, the disc golf course on that side of the trail park was abandoned and is now overgrown. S Lindgren said out of 9 baskets, 5 are lost or destroyed. Commissioner Brazil said maybe we could have a storage at the trail park since we have the room or rent storage down the road. Commissioner Kincannon it would be nice to have something onsite, we could store Port disc golf equipment at the trail park in a storage shed, there is a company in Chehalis who builds them, we just need a concrete slab ready. Commissioner Morris said it would be great to have it readily available for B Grondin to access tools for maintenance of the disc golf park. Commissioner Kincannon said she has access to shipping containers, they are solid and secure, I will check in to pricing on 20 and 40 foot containers. Commissioner Morris said he understood why the Dive shop was concerned about the dock and our walk through, it is in dire need of repairs. I met County Commissioners Shutty and Trask regarding other potential revenue for the port. They spoke about allocation of various taxes, lodging tax is collected by hotels, AIRBNB’s, VRBO’s sitting in the general fund, small amounts of sales taxes are available as well. I will circle back to going to their meetings, they encouraged us all to attend their meetings, we could see an increase in overall revenue. It is a way to get our coffers buffed up. Commissioner Kincannon asked if there is a form, we need to fill out immediately for the lodging tax. Commissioner Morris said he will check back with the County Commissioners to find out. Let’s make sure we go through the hoops first. Grants usually require matching funds. Commissioner Shutty told me for funding, we need to look at the Port’s comprehensive plan. In the meantime, I am working with the Port of Shelton for surplus materials for piece meal immediate repairs. Commissioner Shutty and Trask are very interested in providing a sewer to Hoodsport, I said I would bring it up. They said they were confident about federal infrastructure funding program for rural areas. I will ask if they could provide more detail and if they want to come to a port meeting to present more information. Commissioner Brazil said if I can give some history, Belfair put in a sewer system and the money was diverted. Belfair then asked Mason County to pay for the sewer system, now everyone’s figuring out how do we pay for this? It is not in the positive interest; it costs people and businesses money. Commissioner Kincannon said we are happy to present it to the community, let’s invite the County Commissioners to a meeting and let them share it with the community. Commissioner Brazil said I would like to make a comment, there is grant funding for derelict boats and to remove them, part of the money is used to clean up waterways. K Yackel, if you would like to look into it, the money can be used to help you clean up the water. K Yackel said there are six sunken boats under the dock, I will check into this further to see if funds are available.
Port Maintenance Reports:
Hoodsport Trail Park & Disc Golf Park: Currently closed for tree removal, clean up and snow. We could really use a utility rig with a trailer up at the trail park to haul tools that we need to maintain the trails. Commissioner Kincannon said go ahead and get a bid. Commissioner Kincannon said the ATV may be an item we can piggyback purchasing from another ports contract.
Hoodsport Marina, Dock & Waterfront Park: S Lindgren said the Kiwanis handed him the Christmas tree frame, it was missing strands of lights, so the Port purchased them and put it up at the Waterfront Park.
Portable Restrooms: During the summer season, the Port and Hood Canal Grocery store rent 3 each of the portable restrooms with hand washing stations for the publics use, they are serviced 3 times per week. In winter, rentals are decreased to 2 each and serviced twice per week. The Port checks them for trash and additional toilet paper in between services.
Port parking/Office building/Maintenance shed: We had a lot of snow, I asked F McCullough to plow the ports parking lots. The Kiwanis has their Candy canes and couldn’t have PUD#1 hang them from the power poles this year because they are busy with winter weather. I can either hang them or we can tie them to the walkway railing posts in front of the beach.
Port Directors Report:
The Port director went over the 2023board of commissioner’s positions, terms and committee assignments to give structure for upcoming business and organizational meetings with the public. Commissioner Kincannon, Port commissioner position 2 is the Chairwoman and WPPA 2nd Trustee, oversees communications, marketing, press, website, Chamber, community and contractor liaison, Commissioner Brazil, Port commissioner position 1 is the 2nd Chairman and WPPA 1st Trustee, oversees the Hoodsport Trail park, disc golf park, the Lake Cushman board liaison and Kiwanis liaison, Commissioner Morris, Port commissioner position 3 oversees the Waterfront dock, pier, beach, day use park, port parking and is the local business and community liaison. Commissioner Kincannon and I have been working with Zech design on updating the website, it’s looking so much more streamlined. As suggested by Kirk Boxleightner, reporter; the Port now has an annual subscription to the Shelton-mason Journal. The new WPPA Port Governance management guide has been requested for each commissioner and a copy for the office. A reminder to submit Q4 timesheets, reimbursement vouchers for WPPA expenses.
Budget: November financial statements were reviewed
Old Business: As discussed above New Business: As discussed above
Next Meeting: January 18, 2023
Adjourn: Commissioner Brazil made a motion to adjourn the Regular Port Commission meeting, Commissioner Morris seconded, all in favor, unanimously approved, meeting adjourned at 10:25 a.m.
2023 Regular Port Commission Meetings are scheduled as follows:
Wednesday’s at 9am January 18th, February 8th, March 8th, April 12th
_______________________ _____________________ _________________________
Commissioner Kincannon Commissioner Brazil Commissioner Morris